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This Month's Sponsor
The Combination of Rothes Distillers Limited
……...or as you know it, The Puree.
Founded in 1904 principally to process Pot Ale for the distilleries in Rothes. The distilleries were connected direct to the plant by underground pipelines. These still exist and are used today. Prior to this the distilleries discharged Pot Ale into the tributaries that feed the River Spey. The process was to evaporate, dry and mill the Pot Ale and form a fertilizer called "Maltassa".
This process continued until the late 1960s when it was recognised that the increased production of whisky created the problem of over capacity in the market of Wet Draff and Maltassa as independent products. The answer was to mix and dry the two by-products of distillation and produce "Distillers Barley Dark Grains". Plant 1 was built in 1970 to produce this product.
Increased production of whisky in the early 1907s drove the need for more capacity at the plant and, therefore, Plant No. 2 was built. This enabled the plant to process the Draff and Pot Ale from distilleries as far away as Cromdale. Outwith Rothes, Pot Ale is brought to the plant by road tankers.
The process involves evaporation of the Pot Ale to form a syrup and de-watering of the draff to reduce the water content. They are then mixed together and dried.
All this drying is what forms the vapour that you see discharging from the plant. The vapour is only warm air that is saturated with water driven out of the Draff and Pot Ale. Then dark grain pellets are formed using pressure and dyes. These pellets are high in protein and can be supplemented by minerals and are sold for cattle feed across Scotland and Northern England.
The plant employs 21 people and as its name implies, is owned by a combination of distilling companies, all of which have a distillery in Rothes!
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